1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an objective lens system which is suited for use with endoscopes and composed of a small number of lens elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As an objective lens system which has favorably corrected distortion and a simple composition consisting of a relatively small number of lens elements, there is known a lens system disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Sho 61-162,021. However, this objective lens system has a small field angle and curvature of field which is not corrected favorably since no concave lens element is comprised therein.
Further, as objective lens systems for endoscopes which have large field angles, there are known lens systems proposed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 2-293,709 and so on. However, each of these lens systems consists of a large number of lens elements, uses an aperture stop which is arranged between a first lens unit having negative power and a second lens unit having positive refractive power, and comprises a cemented lens component which is arranged after the aperture stop. This lens system selects the composition described above for the purpose of correcting, by using lens components arranged after the aperture stop, aberrations which are produced more remarkably by the first lens unit as the objective lens system has a larger field angle. The cemented lens component is arranged after the aperture stop especially for correcting lateral chromatic aberration.
Since this objective lens system has the composition which is complicated as described above, it is composed of the large number of lens elements and inevitably requires a high manufacturing cost.
It an attempt is made to simplify the composition of this objective lens system by reducing the number of the lens elements, each lens component must have strengthened power and will aggravate aberrations, whereby the objective lens system must have a prolonged total length for correcting the aberrations or cannot be compact and will be unsuited for use with endoscopes.
Further, if the cemented lens component which is arranged after the aperture stop in the objective lens system described above is designed as a single-element lens component, the lens system will be incapable of correcting the lateral chromatic aberration.
An objective lens system for endoscopes disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 2-208,617, for example, has a relatively large field angle and a simple composition, but has a field angle on the order of 70.degree.. If this objective lens system for endoscopes is modified so as to have a larger field angle (80.degree. to 140.degree.), this lens system will be incapable of correcting aberrations sufficiently favorably. An objective lens system for endoscopes which is composed of three lens elements, preferred as an embodiment of the lens system disclosed by Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei 2-208,617, in particular, allows the lateral chromatic aberration to be produced by individual lens components in the same direction and cannot therefore be said as an objective lens system having chromatic aberration corrected sufficiently favorably.